Ice, And More Ice

What this latest study by the University of Bristol has shown is that some of the ice on the western coast that is over water may be melting due to a change in ocean currents (not necessarily due to any atmospheric warming). But what they aren't telling you is that ice on the eastern, northern and southern coasts, as well as the interior are all gaining ice in most areas. In fact the southern coast has gained substantial ice since recordings began in 1979. Where there were thousands of square miles of open water in 1979 there is now ice, some of it many meters thick. You can verify this for yourself from the satellite images at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) (University of Colorado Boulder, CO).

• These two images show the Antarctic sea ice extent and concentration in December 1979 (the year satellite measurements began):
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• The following two images show Antarctic sea ice extend and concentration in December 2007:
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The pink line is suppose to be the recent median ice edge extent. Total ice edge extent went from 10.5 million sq km in 1979 to 12.6 million in 2007, an increase of 20%. The sea ice concentration went from 6.0 million sq km in 1979 to 8.3 million sq km in 2007, an increase of nearly 40%! You can use the NSIDC link above to obtain larger images of this data.

So the hypothesis is man is awarming the atmosphere, so how does that compute with ice melt? Summer temperatures in the Antarctic interior only reach -30°C (-22°F) (with winter temperatures averaging -50°C (-58°F)), this is far too cold for warming to melt the interior ice. Most of the antarctic ice and snow rests on land and is not effected by ocean currents under them (such as at the Arctic).